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Chicago Tribune
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: You know him as Pee-wee Herman — a new documentary dives into the life of Paul Reubens
Of the very many famous people who admired the late comic actor Paul Reubens' singular creation named Pee-wee Herman — among them Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, film director John Waters, Lily Tomlin, Beverly D'Angelo, Jason Alexander and others — one of the most surprising might be Mike Royko. 'At first, when 'Pee-wee's Playhouse' was brand new, the character annoyed me,' says Royko's eldest son, clinical psychologist, writer and critic David Royko. 'Somehow, he came up when Dad and I were talking, and it shocked me when it turned out that he was a huge fan. Right then, he started imitating Pee-wee, his facial expressions, and, especially, his voice. Pee-wee cracked him up, big time. Dad was the first rabid Pee-wee Herman fan I knew.' Mike Royko knew talent and he knew funny and he was one among millions who were drawn to the bow-tied, suit-wearing, toy-loving man-child with a distinctively high-pitched way of talking, a wild laugh and unbridled enthusiasm that Reubens developed over years before exploding into the national consciousness with an HBO special in 1981 and in films (the hit 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure,' director Tim Burton's first feature film in 1985, and the less successful 'Big Top Pee-wee' in 1987) and on frequent appearances on David Letterman's late night shows and in the TV series 'Pee-wee's Playhouse,' which ran Saturday mornings on CBS from 1986 to 1990. We hear from some of his fans and from others who knew Reubens intimately, but mostly from Reubens himself in a compelling, two-part, three-hour-long HBO documentary, 'Pee-wee as Himself.' The film is the work of Matt Wolf, who spent many years wooing Reubens and four years making the movie. As Wolf has written, 'For years, my dream documentary subject was Paul Reubens. Throughout my childhood, a Pee-wee pull-string doll dangled above my bed, and I'd stare at it every night before falling asleep.' What he wanted to create was a portrait of an artist, and that is what we get, but we also meet a complicated man who hid parts of himself behind the playful Pee-wee. We go to Sarasota, Florida, where Reubens was born and raised, and influenced by the characters of the Ringling Bros. circus that made the town its home base. His parents, Judy and Milton, seem to be fine and supportive folks, if the dad was a bit rough around the edges. A modestly successful child actor in regional theater Reubens earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clara, becoming that rare breed of conceptual artist who also craves fame. Naturally it was off to Los Angeles and his years with the Groundlings, the noted Los Angeles-based improv group, where he became friends, for a time, with future star 'Saturday Night Live' star Phil Hartman, and where Pee-wee came to life. His first paying performance as Pee-wee came, of all odd places, on 'The Dating Game.' He was picked and stardom came fast over the next decade. But it also came crashing down in the wake of his 1991 arrest in an adult movie theater in Florida and a charge of indecent exposure. He said the charge was false but pleaded no contest. Still, the headlines were so garish, the late night jokes so intense that CBS felt compelled to pull episodes of 'Playhouse.' Though he did manage to work as a voice-over artist and sometime TV guest, in 2002 he was arrested on charges of child pornography, stemming from his vast collection of vintage erotica. The charges were later dropped, but still remained tied to his fame as a kids' TV star. He does not talk about either of these incidents at any length in the film, but there is enough in the more than 1,000 hours of archival film and interviews with his family and friends to provide ample evidence that he was unfairly victimized. Much of the film's 40-hour interview segments with Ruebens were filmed in his sprawling mid-century Los Angeles house jammed with archives and collectibles. There are indeed some awkward moments between Reubens and Wolf, though one surely senses the filmmaker's affection and admiration for his subject. During these sessions, often tense, Reubens talked publicly for the first time about his sexuality — he was gay — and detailed lovingly his college boyfriend, an artist named Guy. Reubens was a man of many secrets, and the last one is chilling. As Wolf was preparing for one final interview, he, along with the rest of the world, learned on July 30, 2023, that Reubens was dead at 70, the victim of cancer that he had privately battled for six years. He had, however, the day before he died, made a tape recording on which he talked of that 2002 arrest. You will hear him, near the film's end, his voice weak, saying, 'More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labelled something I wasn't. The moment I heard somebody label me as, I'm just going to say it, a pedophile, I knew it was going to change everything moving forward and backwards.' David Royko and his wife Karen loved this documentary. So did I. It is a bit long but worth your time. It punctuates what a grand and influential talent Reubens was and how his greatest creation captured hearts and minds. The movie, the life of a complicated genius, will stay with you for keeps.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Mortician' Becomes HBO's Most-Watched Documentary Series In Over 5 Years
EXCLUSIVE: The Mortician is piquing audience interest for HBO. The three-part documentary series, which chronicles the inhumane practices at a funeral home in Southern California, debuted on June 1. Since then, the show has tallied more than 2.6M cross-platform viewers in the U.S., per the network. More from Deadline 'Love Island USA' Season 7 Sets New Bar For Series, Soaring Past 1B Minutes Viewed In Week After Debut, Per Luminate HBO's Steve Carell Comedy Series Adds Annie Mumolo 'Somebody Somewhere's Tim Bagley On Finding The Humor In The "Depth And Darkness" Of Life & Showing The "Openness Of Your Heart" In Song It's now the most-watched HBO documentary series in over five years. That means it's beat out some high profile documentaries like Pee-wee as Himself, Chimp Crazy, Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God and more. This is certainly a strong performance for the series, likely aided by the vote of confidence from HBO to place it in the network's marquee 9 p.m. Sunday night slot, following on the heels of The Last of Us, The White Lotus and The Gilded Age. That generally has signaled to viewers that a series should be on their radar and thus can be a force for driving engagement. The Mortician follows a trusted family-owned funeral home that hid behind a façade of decency and propriety to take advantage of loved ones at their most vulnerable moments. In the early 1980s, David Sconce, scion of the Lamb family, took over the family business and sought to exploit the deceased in numerous ways to expand their earnings. Driven by profit, the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California engaged in years of morally questionable and inhumane practices. Featuring an exclusive interview with Sconce, newly released from prison, the series examines the lucrative and ubiquitous multibillion-dollar mortuary industry and illuminates what can happen behind closed doors, away from public scrutiny. With emotional interviews with families of the victims of the Lamb Funeral Home and revelations from former employees, The Mortician unravels a dark, troubling story that involved mass cremations and stealing from the dead in a multitude of macabre ways. The scandal shook Southern California and as members of the family stood trial, the funeral industry took heed, bringing about tighter regulations and allowing for greater transparency into the business of death. A testimony from Sconce, who tells his side of the story with animated energy and candor, anchors the series. The HBO unscripted series is directed and executive produced by Joshua Rofé and executive produced by Steven J. Berger for Number 19 and Strong Baby's Jonah Hill and Matt Dines. Best of Deadline 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Pee-wee as Himself': Director Matt Wolf on exploring the duality of Paul Reubens and earning his trust — ‘It was a constant struggle'
When Matt Wolf took on the daunting task of creating a documentary about the enigmatic Paul Reubens, the man behind the flamboyant and charming Pee-wee Herman, the filmmaker never could have imagined just how deeply layered the story would be. Now, in Wolf's Pee-wee as Himself, audiences are given an unprecedented look at a fiercely private artist whose boundary-pushing creativity and resilience impacted an entire generation. The two-part HBO documentary introduces viewers to Reubens in an unexpected way: as an eccentric figure claiming to have been born in 1938 on the banks of the Mississippi River. It's humor that cuts straight to the core of who Reubens was, but also hints at the complicated man behind the bowtie. Wolf admits that the opening moments of a documentary often come together through trial and error: "Oh, I don't know. You just try stuff out and it sticks and we probably tried that immediately as the first thing and it stuck. I mean, it's funny." More from GoldDerby 'Gypsy' and 'Just in Time' producer Tom Kirdahy on serving a 'social and cultural need' through creative work TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking' For Wolf, getting a chance to tell Reubens' story required more than just persistence — it required fate. 'People, when you make documentaries, ask who's your dream subject? And mine always was Paul,' Wolf tells Gold Derby. After several unsuccessful attempts to connect with the famously private Reubens, a serendipitous sequence of events involving the Safdie brothers [Benny and Josh], who were at one point rumored to be working on an autobiographical Pee-wee film, ultimately led to Reubens reaching out to Wolf through producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff. From the outset, however, trust was a challenge. Reubens, known for his intense control over his public image, was reluctant to relinquish that same control for the film. "It was hard. It was a constant struggle of trying to earn Paul's trust, but to also accept that there were limits to how much he was willing to trust somebody," Wolf explains. Reubens' fraught history with the media, where he felt his personal story was often misrepresented, left him wary. "I empathized with where he was coming from," Wolf continues, "but trust is a foundation of what we do as documentary filmmakers. ... And Paul was somebody incapable of taking a leap of faith." Over the course of hundreds of hours of conversations, the two worked to find a middle ground, even as Wolf recognized that Reubens would never completely let his guard down. Courtesy of HBO Unbeknownst to Wolf and the crew, Reubens was privately battling cancer while filming the documentary. "I was scheduled to complete a final interview with Paul the week after he died," Wolf shares. "I found out that Paul died on Instagram, the day he died, along with everybody else." The reveal added an even deeper emotional weight to the production. Despite this devastating blow, Wolf pressed on, knowing Reubens wanted the documentary to move forward, giving his blessing in their final conversations. 'I read the 1,500-page transcript of our interview right after [he passed],' Wolf recounts. 'I wanted to rise to the occasion and do justice under these extraordinary circumstances.' The film explores the duality that defined Reubens' career: Pee-wee Herman, the irrepressible, childlike alter ego, and Paul Reubens, the man behind the magic. It's a balancing act few have undertaken successfully, as Wolf points out: 'Somebody else who's in the film that's done that a bit is Elvira, Cassandra Peterson. But it's a small club of people who live as their alter ego. And Paul was kind of the most visible member of that club.' Reubens made a conscious choice to keep Pee-wee a separate entity, a concept born out of both creative and personal motivations. "He wanted people to believe that Pee-wee Herman was a real person,' Wolf explains, 'but on a deeper level, Paul was very protective of his privacy and anonymity." HBO/Pee-wee Herman Productions, Inc. As the documentary delves into Reubens' life before Pee-wee, it reveals the formative influences that shaped not only the character but the artist himself. From his art school days at CalArts to performing as an openly gay man before retreating into the closet for his career, Reubens' trajectory captures the struggles and compromises of a queer artist in the entertainment industry of the 1980s. "He chose to go into the closet to focus on his career,' Wolf notes. 'It was a personal but also pragmatic decision, knowing that in the early 1980s, an openly gay man would not be able to rise in the entertainment industry." Reubens' rejection from Saturday Night Live became the catalyst for Pee-wee Herman's creation. "I think that rejection really kind of emboldened Paul to take matters into his own hands," Wolf observes. From a midnight play at the Groundlings to the cult success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Reubens carved out a path that was quintessentially his own. HBO/Pee-wee Herman Productions, Inc. Collaborating with now-iconic director Tim Burton on his feature debut, Reubens enjoyed a type of creative freedom and naïveté in Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Wolf reflects on Burton's experience making the film: 'You're just kind of putting it all out there. And I think there was something very naive about the making of Pee-wee's Big Adventure that allowed it to be very pure." His subsequent Saturday morning show, Pee-wee's Playhouse, broke barriers with its artistic vision and diverse cast. 'In some ways, people recognize that the show was revolutionary,' Wolf says. 'But to watch in more specific detail the types of things that they accomplished and the ambition of it, it will be undeniable how singular it was as a cultural phenomenon.' The documentary doesn't shy away from the controversy that derailed Reubens' career. The incident in an adult movie theater — and subsequent false allegations of child pornography — forever altered public perception. Wolf describes the impacts of that time: "Paul was in a state of shock for a number of years and it had a profound impact on his life... But thankfully we were able to see him in his full breadth of talents as a character actor." Reubens' ability to persevere and work through those challenges is a testament to his resilience. "[He] was a resilient person," Wolf emphasizes. "I didn't see him as a victim. I think he proved over and over again that he could overcome hardship and kind of put his work first." For decades, Pee-wee and Paul existed as two separate beings, a distinction even immortalized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where Pee-wee Herman has a star — Paul Reubens does not. Wolf hopes that his documentary helps fuse these two sides of the same coin. "Paul Reubens created Pee-wee Herman," Wolf reminded us. 'Now that Paul has passed away ... I hope people can respect and appreciate the artist that was always there within, behind, and alongside his creation.' Pee-wee as Himself is currently streaming on Max. Best of GoldDerby TV Visual Effects supervisor roundtable: 'Black Mirror,' 'The Boys,' 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Wheel of Time' VFX supervisor Andy Scrase: 'I always think of visual effects as the magic of filmmaking' 'The Boys' VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet explains why a one-minute shot 'took about 17 hours' to make Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Marc Maron's ‘Are We Good?': What happens when stars clash with their documentary filmmakers
In Steven Feinartz's documentary Are We Good? about comedian and podcast pioneer Marc Maron, the director and subject grapple over who is in control of the narrative. When Feinartz suggests animating still photographs to help chronicle both Maron's career and his life after the unexpected death of his partner, filmmaker Lynn Shelton, the comedian is against it. Yet Feinartz, who had full creative control over the project, used the animation anyway. More from GoldDerby Debbie Allen, Tom Cruise, Dolly Parton, and Wynn Thomas to receive honorary Oscars TV's double threats: 10 actors eyeing nominations for both comedy and drama at the 2025 Emmys Beyond Alexis Bledel: 7 other times actors withdrew themselves from Emmy consideration "The moment I mentioned animation, I could already hear [Marc] recoiling," says Feinartz. "If the film didn't have that back and forth, it wouldn't feel like a Maron doc. He's not someone who just sits back and lets you tell his story. There was trust, but also a kind of tension." Are We Good?, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 14, is the latest celebrity documentary that incorporates a star subject visibly and verbally struggling with their decision to surrender creative authority to a director. Matt Wolf's HBO documentary series Pee-wee as Himself and Bess Kargman's Diane Warren: Relentless, about the Oscar-nominated songwriter, also feature on-camera, often uncomfortable, banter between the subject and the director about who should have control over a story that each wants to tell differently. (In both cases, the director had complete control over the project and its final cut.) In the opening sequence of Wolf's Pee-wee as Himself, the late artist and performer Paul Reubens tells the camera, "You are not supposed to control your own documentary. You are supposed to [make] people, many people, alright, everyone but me, feel that as the subject of a documentary that you really don't have a handle. Have a take. What's the word I'm looking for? What is everyone telling me that I don't have on myself?' "Perspective,' Wolf can be heard saying off-camera, to which Reubens responds, 'You and I are going to be arguing [about that] for a long, long time. Until this documentary is finished. You mark my words.' Wolf and Reubens' contentious verbal relationship is captured throughout the two-part series, which premiered on HBO in May. "Paul and I were involved in a power struggle," says Wolf. "He didn't like the answer 'no,' and as a director, I'm accustomed to getting my way. We had similar ideas about his story and how it should be told. I just needed Paul to let go, so that I could do what I needed to do to reappraise him as an artist. I think at the end of the day, Paul and I wanted the same thing. However, to achieve those goals, I needed to be tough about maintaining my editorial autonomy." SEE'Pee-wee as Himself': Director Matt Wolf on exploring the duality of Paul Reubens and earning his trust — 'It was a constant struggle' In Kargman's Relentless, which debuted at SXSW in 2024, Warren's prolific songwriting career is examined. So is Warren's innate desire not to discuss her creative process or show up for certain interviews. At one point in the documentary, Warren tells Kargman that a camera is placed at a bad angle before grabbing it and repositioning it. At several points in the film, Kargman confronts Warren about her production power plays. Kargman says that while she didn't want the audience to hear her voice in Relentless, she also wanted them to know what it was like to be in her shoes and "experience what I was experiencing." "As I say in the film Diane had a wall up, and I was trying to break through it," she says. "I wanted the audience to experience the occasional deep frustration I had, so you hear me challenge her. In a perfect world, I would not have put myself in the film." To hear Feinartz, Wolf, and Kargman verbally debate with their respective subjects about style, storytelling, or final cut gives each film tension and an air of authenticity. "If anything, the banter between me and Marc just made things more transparent," says Feinartz. "You see me trying to make a film, you see him pushing back. It's less about control and more about letting the mess be part of the film." The power struggle unfolding in all three documentaries is, at times, jarring but also entertaining. Arguably, the breaking of the fourth wall is more captivating than the profile being told, which could, in part, be due to the fact that most celebrity-driven documentaries are boring self-produced infomercials that offer little in the way of new, unusual, or engrossing information about the subject. Practically any doc featuring a musician — Halftime about Jennifer Lopez, Miss Americana about Taylor Swift, and Homecoming about Beyoncé — is a carefully constructed commercial produced by the star or their record label. While recent celebrity documentaries like Elton John: Never Too Late, Martha, Beckham, and The Last Dance were all insightful, there is the issue of subjects being paid to participate, which raises questions about creative control and merit. "I definitely wanted the audience to be clear that this is not a puff piece, or a vanity project," says Wolf. "However, more importantly, control was an important theme in the film. Paul separated himself from Pee-wee Herman as an artistic and professional choice, but also as a way to protect his anonymity. When that precise separation crumbled after Paul's arrest, it was devastating for him. Paul lost control of his personal narrative in the media, so it was very relevant that he struggled with issues of control in the documentary. I was less interested in making a meta-commentary on celebrity documentaries, and more interested in understanding Paul's experiences both in the past and in the present while making the documentary." The recent trend toward push-pull celeb-docs docs is a welcome diversion from the puff pieces that soft-pedal around their A-list subjects. But it's anyone's guess at this point if distributors will get behind raw docs about celebrities or stick with what works — fake docs about celebrities. Are We Good? is seeking distribution. Best of GoldDerby 'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin') 'It almost killed me': Horror maestro Mike Flanagan looks back at career-making hits from 'Gerald's Game' to 'Hill House' to 'Life of Chuck' Stephen King movies: 14 greatest films ranked worst to best Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Joe Manganiello, Who Starred in ‘Pee-wee's Big Holiday,' Chokes Up Remembering Late Friend Paul Reubens: 'I Was His Biggest Fan'
There's renewed interest in the life and career of Paul Reubens thanks to the critically acclaimed two-part documentary Pee-Wee as Himself from HBO Max. The film, from filmmaker Matt Wolf, recently hit the streamer after a world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Wolf worked closely with Reubens in pulling together the project, culled from more than 40 hours of on-camera interviews and 1,000 hours of archival footage and shaped over what turned out to be an emotional rollercoaster lasting four years. More from The Hollywood Reporter Matt Wolf Says Filmmaker Buddies Convinced Him to Re-Cut 'Pee-wee as Himself' to Include ... Himself Netflix EMEA Content Boss Touts 'Adolescence,' Debunks a "Myth," Talks Ted Sarandos' Acting Debut 'Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature On the heels of Sundance revealing the 2025 lineup last December, The Hollywood Reporter happened to be on Zoom with Joe Manganiello to discuss the latest season of his buzzy new reality competition series Deal or No Deal Island. As the interview was winding down, THR asked Manganiello about the documentary and Reubens, someone he got to know quite well when he filmed a starring role in Netflix's 2016 film Pee-Wee's Big Holiday. As it turned out, Manganiello had been thinking a lot about his friend, who died on July 30, 2023, following a private battle with cancer. 'I love Paul and I miss Paul a lot,' Manganiello said, adding that he had recently woken up after having a dream about Reubens. 'Paul showed up and pranked me with a practical joke in my dream. It was one of those dreams when you wake up and it feels really real. It was so vivid. I just thought, gosh, if there was anyone on the planet who would use the afterlife to figure out how to play a practical joke on his friends and prank them in their sleep, it would be Paul. He was so generous.' As has been well-documented, Reubens loved birthdays and would never let one slip by without making it special. 'When he found out when your birthday was, he would bombard you with birthday cards, birthday messages, birthday texts, birthday videos the entire day,' Manganiello recalled. 'Friends of mine who just met him in passing through me, he would get their numbers and do it to 'em, too.' In the film, Manganiello plays himself and the actor recalled that Reubens wrote the part specifically for him, calling the gesture 'a validation that one of the great comedic geniuses would call me up' to be his partner on the film. 'He was such a genius, but he didn't demand that you treated him that way. I remember when we went to set the first day, I said, 'Paul, when we get there, am I calling you Paul or am I calling you Pee-wee? Are you in character?' He said, 'No, I'm Paul.' When I got there, he was there in a full-on suit and bow-tie [like Pee-Wee] but he was still Paul. He really wanted to set you up to win.' Starring Reubens as the iconic Pee-wee Herman, the John Lee-directed Pee-wee's Big Holiday follows the adventures of the title character after a fateful meeting with a mysterious stranger inspires him to take his first-ever holiday in this epic story of friendship and destiny. The cast also includes Jessica Pohly, Alia Shawkat and Stephanie Beatriz. Reubens co-wrote the film with Paul Rust and produced it alongside Judd Apatow. As for the doc, at the time of THR's interview, Manganiello hadn't yet seen Pee-Wee as Himself, but he was excited by the fact that it exists. 'It's a good time for it and I think it's going to be really effective since it comes from his perspective,' said the veteran star. 'I think there's a lot of confusion with people about out what he was in trouble for and what he wasn't in trouble for, and that narrative has gotten really muddy. I think that he really did get a raw deal, and it really hurt him deeply. He was someone that felt things really deeply, and it's sad for me because I look back and I think about what the world would've been like had he not had to go into this self-imposed exile or this kind of society-imposed exile. It was dumb.' Manganiello, like so many of Reubens' close friends and collaborators, did not know about his years-long battle with cancer. And speaking about him in the interview caused him to get choked up and fight back tears, an emotional moment that he later discussed with People Magazine. 'I think about him all the time. I miss him a lot. He was like a family member. He would come over for Thanksgiving, he would come over to the house all the time, or I'd go to his [house],' recalled Manganiello, getting teary. 'He sent me a video before he passed away. It was just him talking about how much he loved me and how great I was in the movie and how funny he thought I was, how great of an actor he thought I was. It was just this glowing, unbelievable video. I didn't realize that he was sending that because he knew that his time was going to be short. I still have it in my phone and it's hard knowing that it's in there, but that's just the kind of person that he was. He let everybody that he loved know that he loved him all the time. I just feel so privileged to have had the chance to work with him on that intimate of a level and to get to know him as a person. I was his biggest fan. I loved him. I'll always miss him.' 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